Syria to resume flights between Aleppo Airport, Cairo: Min.

CAIRO – 20 February 2020: Syrian Transport Minister Ali Hammoud announced intentions to operating flights between Cairo and the Aleppo International Airport, after a nine-year closure, starting March.

In an interview on Thursday with the Russian government-owned Sputnik, the minister said flights will be resumed to Cairo due to the presence of a big Syrian community in Cairo, and then to a number of other countries which he declined to name.

Hammoud on Monday announced re-opening the airport. On Wednesday morning, it received its first flight since it was re-opened from the Damascus International Airport.

In press remarks, Director of Civil Aviation in Syria Bassem Mansour said the airport was reopened thanks to the security efforts of the Syrian Armed Forces, headed by President Bashar Al-Assad. He added that airport was secured during the Syrian war, despite attacks by armed groups.

The work crews are ready to work in their locations at the airport, noting that the resumption of flights from the Aleppo airport will help revive the economy.

The Syrian army took control of the entire city of Aleppo at the end of 2016.

Egypt has called for resolving the crisis in Libya that started in 2011 but appeared to be neutral toward the issue. Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry in September last year said that discussions are being held between the members of the Arab League about Syria’s return to the AL.

Since 2011, Egyptians have welcomed Syrians to live among them, and to launch small and medium projects. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in 2018 affirmed welcoming refugees “who all live [in Egypt] like Egyptians, without discrimination between us and them.” He addressed the Syrian refugees, saying that “Egypt is their country.”

Amid recent allegations questioning the integrity of the Syrian investors, and calls to monitor their investments, earlier this year, many Egyptians including celebrities have launched campaigns to defend their Syrian “brothers,” including starting hashtag “Syrians are [welcomed] in Egypt.”